Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cake with Quinoa Flour (GFCF)

A dear family friend of ours, who also happens to be my brother’s OT (Occupational Therapist) made this cake. Dimity Duckworth is such an outstanding OT and truly wonderful person that she has long since captured a place in the heart of our family and almost everyone she meets, I am sure! The recipe that she made the cake from calls it bread, but we’re calling it cake. I liked it so much that I simply had to share it with all of you, here. It reminds me of my grandmother’s banana bread, even though peanut butter was never used in her bread (but sometimes there were chocolate chips).

This cake uses quinoa flour, a flour I’ve yet to use in my baking (I have full intentions to, though, since I got that quinoa cookbook!) and she found it a bit heavier than rice flour, which is what she usually uses but it does add a pleasant, complimentary nuttiness to the cake. Because it’s dense it’s a great snack cake and very satisfying – I cut a slice in half, like in the picture above, and it was enough to still satisfy me.

An interesting fact Dimity told me is that peanut butter isn’t popular to bake with in Australia, so, in her words, she’s really into using it. Since she mentioned it, it has struck me that I have not seen the PB in the Donna Hay magazine or her cookbooks that I’ve borrowed from the library. Is baking with peanut butter very (North) American? (I include North because it seems to be used quite a bit in Canadian baking also.)

The bananas used were very brown and Dimity thinks that this helped with the texture; the mashed bananas also weren’t fully mixed in, so you’d get some banana in a piece of the cake. She also used lactose-free milk as she prefers it over soy milk for baking, but a dairy-free milk of your choice can be used also.

The original recipe used two loaf tins but as she didn’t have two, she used a rectangular dish and, as you can see, the cake still came out well.

Zoe this cake contains many things I love love love. Quinoa flour being one of the them. And the peanut butter-chocolate-banana combo being another. Thanks for sharing Dimity’s recipe. Yay for no starchy flours.

Casey – I haven’t tried quinoa flour yet but I’ve cooked quinoa and it’s extremely versatile! Sometimes, we like it better than rice.

Debi – Hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Maggie – You’re most welcome. Dimity is so excited all of you like her cake! The peanut butter-chocolate-banana is a winner every time, in my humble opinion. 🙂 Once I get quinoa flour, you’ll be seeing more recipes like these.

Anna – If you attempt this, we’d love to hear your results. I hear you on simple recipes and multiple flours – generally it’s when I don’t have/use (yet) said flour that I put it aside but I’m getting better about it as I explore more. I currently use at most three or four different flours in a given recipe; if it’s grain-free, one or two flours generally.